March 13, 2019 | Buying Mania Continues, Even with Boeing Hurting

Rick Ackerman

Rick Ackerman is the editor of Rick’s Picks, an online service geared to traders of stocks, options, index futures and commodities. His detailed trading strategies have appeared since the early 1990s in Black Box Forecasts, a newsletter he founded that originally was geared to professional option traders. Barron’s once labeled him an “intrepid trader” in a headline that alluded to his key role in solving a notorious pill-tampering case. He received a $200,000 reward when a conviction resulted, and the story was retold on TV’s FBI: The Untold Story. His professional background includes 12 years as a market maker in the pits of the Pacific Coast Exchange, three as an investigator with renowned San Francisco private eye Hal Lipset, seven as a reporter and newspaper editor, three as a columnist for the Sunday San Francisco Examiner, and two decades as a contributor to publications ranging from Barron’s to The Antiquarian Bookman to Fleet Street Letter and Utne Reader.

The Dow’s ability to forge relentlessly higher with Boeing shares getting slammed is unprecedented. We might as easily have imagined Duke’s basketball team winning the upcoming NCAA tournament with Zion Williamson out of commission. The six-foot, seven-inch, 285-pound power forward sprained his knee and has missed several games since one of his Nike sneakers blew apart during a widely televised match-up with North Carolina. Nike shares have inexplicably surged since the accident, which arguably was the worst publicity a maker of athletic equipment has ever received.

There was a time when serious weakness in Boeing, the most important stock in the blue chip average, would have weighed on investors. These days, however, the geniuses who get paid to throw Other People’s Money at a handful of stocks evidently have so much of it sitting idle that shares cannot simply rest for a day, especially when cyclical forces are as powerfully bullish as they are now. Look for their shills in the news media to soften and brighten the Boeing story as much as possible in the days ahead, so that the business of Wall Street — i.e., filling the stock market with hot gas — can resume in earnest.

Don’t Be Surprised

The Dow has gained 250 points since a 737 Max jetliner went down in Ethiopia, killing all 157 aboard. The aircraft has been grounded around the world, causing Boeing shares to plunge from recent highs near 446 to a low this afternoon at 336. BA looks primed to fall a further $54, but don’t be surprised if the Industrial Average acts as though it can barely wait to recoup heavy losses from Q4 2018 to achieve new record highs.